Page 37 of Cheater Slicks

“I cannot hold this form much longer. I have expended too much energy. I must go.”Her voice softened, and she withdrew from me.“I will return to the body with nice teeth.”

A shiver coasted over my skin as she peeled apart from me, leaving a hollow ache as if the parade had swept away my energy.

“Hold on.” I lurched after her, frantic for her to finish walking me through this. “What do I do now?”

“You must place him where he belongs before the dawn burns away his soul.”

The faint whisper of her voice faded away, and she did too, leaving me protecting a glowing orb leaking blue light into a night that didn’t feel quite as dark as it had been moments ago.

“We have to go.” I jerked my head toward Kierce’s pocket. “Call us a Swyft.”

“All right.” He plugged in the information, shared the make and model of our ride, then brought the phone to his ear. “I’m going to let Jean-Claude know to expect us.”

About to ask him to text Josie an update, I nixed that, knowing Jean-Claude would be on top of it.

“Matty and Vi? Did you see them?”

“No change from last night for Matty, but Vi was more sedate and less talkative.”

Not great news, but also not the worst possibility.

Focus on the positives. I could do that. Sure I could. Maybe. I hoped so.

“Why isn’t he Rollo-shaped?” I peeked between my fingers. “Souls retain the form they recall…”

“Yes.” Kierce picked up on my thoughts. “His memory has been too damaged to retain his Rollo-shape.”

Fifteen excruciating minutes later, Kierce lifted a hand in greeting to the driver of a slowing car like he had been hailing Swyfts all his life. As soon as he got me settled in the backseat, earning us a soft smile from our driver, who must have mistaken the move for chivalry, he climbed in beside me.

Had I not been terrified one wrong move would shatter Rollo like a raw eggshell, sending yolk dripping between my fingers, I would have risked leaning over to kiss Kierce. “I’m glad you’re here with me.”

“I’m not going anywhere.”

Happiness lit me up from the inside, and for the first time since Harrow drove an unconscious Matty to the shop, I allowed myself true hope.

Thanks to that quick call, Jean-Claude met us at the door at street level. He let us in, got us upstairs, and did a bang-up job of prepping Rollo’s body for what came next. By the time Vi declared me a graduate from her homeschool for necromancers, he had learned as much about the theory of necromancy as me.

That was why I found Rollo’s body lying on the floor in his room inside a perfect salt circle dotted with the burned-down nubs of candles Jean-Claude had taken from my bag. And why I was able to step right in with Kierce, who would have to handle my usual part, behind me.

“Light the candles moving widdershins,” I told him. “We need to raise a circle to contain Rollo’s soul.”

A tether remained between his spirit and his body. Otherwise, his body would have stopped breathing, pumping blood to his heart, and all the other things that kept a person alive. I had to hope that conduit was enough for his soul to latch onto and root itself where it belonged.

With deft hands, Kierce lit the candles, singing a hymn under his breath that prickled my skin.

Magic rose around us, doming above us, and sealing us in with Rollo—body and soul.

“Here goes nothing.” I knelt beside him, bracing my wrists on his sternum, holding my cupped hands over his heart. “Let’s hope both halves want to be a whole enough to figure out what comes next.”

The magic I used to reach into people, to rip out their souls, wasn’t gentle. I wasn’t sure it worked in reverse either. We might end up there regardless, with me attempting to reverse-engineer my process, but I would exhaust all other avenues first.

Gently, as though I were releasing a butterfly, I opened my fingers.

The ball of light dripped over my fingertips like melting wax, splashing onto Rollo’s chest.

“That’s good,” I coaxed it, unsure why I was baby-talking his spirit. “Very good.”

Afraid to blink, I waited for the glimmer to soak in. To absorb. To do…something.

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